How To Get More Reviews For Your Heating & Plumbing Business
- 1. First, decide where you want to collect reviews
- 2. How to get the reviews
- 3. 1. Get your Google review link (and QR code)
- 4. 2. Pick the right moment
- 5. 3. Choose where you ask
- 6. See how Jones the Gas collected 300+ 5-star reviews with GES
- 7. The easiest way: Ask for reviews with Gas Engineer Software emails
- 8. What about carrying a QR code lanyard?
- 9. In summary: the best way to get reviews is to consistently ask for them
- 1. First, decide where you want to collect reviews
- 2. How to get the reviews
- 3. 1. Get your Google review link (and QR code)
- 4. 2. Pick the right moment
- 5. 3. Choose where you ask
- 6. See how Jones the Gas collected 300+ 5-star reviews with GES
- 7. The easiest way: Ask for reviews with Gas Engineer Software emails
- 8. What about carrying a QR code lanyard?
- 9. In summary: the best way to get reviews is to consistently ask for them
71% of people read online reviews while researching a business.
Reviews clearly play a critical role in building trust and confidence, especially when it comes to heating & plumbing. But for most businesses, getting good reviews isn’t the difficult part. Rather, it’s getting 10s or 100s of them that becomes tricky. When do you ask? How do you phrase it? Online or in-person?
Nobody really likes to ask for reviews, but the extra business they can help you win over your competitors is undeniable.
In this article, we’ll show you how to build a review strategy that works.
- 1. First, decide where you want to collect reviews
- 2. How to get the reviews
- 3. 1. Get your Google review link (and QR code)
- 4. 2. Pick the right moment
- 5. 3. Choose where you ask
- 6. See how Jones the Gas collected 300+ 5-star reviews with GES
- 7. The easiest way: Ask for reviews with Gas Engineer Software emails
- 8. What about carrying a QR code lanyard?
- 9. In summary: the best way to get reviews is to consistently ask for them
- 1. First, decide where you want to collect reviews
- 2. How to get the reviews
- 3. 1. Get your Google review link (and QR code)
- 4. 2. Pick the right moment
- 5. 3. Choose where you ask
- 6. See how Jones the Gas collected 300+ 5-star reviews with GES
- 7. The easiest way: Ask for reviews with Gas Engineer Software emails
- 8. What about carrying a QR code lanyard?
- 9. In summary: the best way to get reviews is to consistently ask for them
First, decide where you want to collect reviews
The best place to start is Google. When customers search for heating and plumbing services or businesses online, Google offers suggestions that include star ratings and links to full reviews left for the business.
There’s a helpful section on claiming & setting up your ‘Google Business Profile’ in our SEO guide.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll even feature on their “map pack”, as shown below:
Other good places to get reviews include review sites like Trustpilot and lead gen sites like Checkatrade.
If you want to learn more about whether lead gen sites are worth it for your business, read our full guide here.
How to get the reviews
Asking for a review can feel like you’re imposing. You’re not. Nearly half of internet users regularly post reviews and it’s very much become the norm. Most of the time, though, it’s because they’ve been asked or reminded to do so. This is the most important part.
The foundation is your work: take the time to do the job well, don’t try to compete on price, and go the extra mile where you can.
1. Get your Google review link (and QR code)
Your Google review link takes customers straight to where they leave a review, so they don’t have to search for it.
You’ll need your Google Business Profile set up first (see the Google Business Profile section of our SEO guide). Then, on a computer:
- Go to business.google.com and open your Business Profile
- Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews
- Click the copy icon to copy your review link
- To save the QR code, right-click it and choose Save image as
Save the link somewhere you can grab it in seconds, like a note on your phone. You’ll use it for every method below.
2. Pick the right moment
When you ask matters more than the exact words. You want the job to be fresh in their mind and the problem to be sorted. Good moments include:
- As you’re packing up, or leaving the property
- When you notice the customer is happy
- When you send the invoice
- A few days after
3. Choose where you ask
In person. This is very effective, because it’s hard to ignore a request made face-to-face. It helps if you have a QR code too so they can do it there and then (more on that below). The downside? Having to remember to ask for a review is another thing on your plate.
Over the phone. A quick call a few days after a bigger job, like a boiler install, to check everything’s working can make the customer feel valued.
If you’d rather not ask for reviews yourself, email and text work well too. Asking every customer, with a review link included, is always going to get you many more reviews than if you just ask the odd customer here and there. This is exactly how many GES customers do it, including James from Hellfire Plumbing and Heating and Dean from Jones the Gas:
GAS ENGINEER PODCAST
See how Jones the Gas collected 300+ 5-star reviews with GES
The easiest way: Ask for reviews with Gas Engineer Software emails
The invoice email lands just after the job’s done, when the customer’s just been reminded of the work, and it’s an email they’ll actually open.
If you use Gas Engineer Software, you can add your review link to your invoice email template once. From then on, every invoice you send asks for a review without you thinking about it.
To set it up: on the web portal, go to your settings, click Manage under Service Reminders and Email Templates, and open your Invoice Email template. Add a line with your review link, then save. You can fully customise the wording and use drag-and-drop tags like :customer to fill in each customer’s name automatically.
Here’s an example line you can add to this email or any other (including SMS messages):
Subject: Your invoice for the job at :jobbuilding :jobstreet Hi :customer, Please find attached an invoice for the job at :jobbuilding :jobstreet. Thank you very much for choosing to use our service. If you have any questions or if I can help in any way please feel free to call me on :contactphone. If you've got a minute, we'd really appreciate a Google review. It helps other people in the area find us: [Your Google Review Link] All the very best, :engineername :contactphone
- It’s in the body of an email they’ll open. A review link in your email footer is easy to miss. One line in the invoice email gets read.
- You set it once. Every invoice asks for you, whether you send five a week or fifty.
- It reaches every customer. No picking and choosing, which keeps you on the right side of Google’s rules.
- You don’t have to ask yourself. It can be awkward asking for reviews. This completely removes that.
What about carrying a QR code lanyard?
Asking in person is effective, but it pays off to make it as simple for your customer as possible. Instead of them saying “yeah, course”, then forgetting or not bothering when they realise they have to search up and find your business, have a QR code ready for them.
All you have to do is print it on a card (your business card or a separate one) and then keep it with you. You can even put it in a lanyard card holder and pass copies to any engineers you have on your team.
In summary: the best way to get reviews is to consistently ask for them
Reviews help your business massively, and all you need to do is ask. If you set up a system described in this guide, you won’t have to spend much care or effort doing so, either.
It really can be as simple as including a link in your invoice email, and every customer gets a chance to leave a review without you ever having to chase them.